This is just a side note, and not immediately relevant to most of the conversation.
While the system that the United States labors under appears to be capitalist, it is by no means purely a capitalist system. In a true open market capitalist economy, business organizations do not lobby the federal government to legislatively support out-dated business models. In a capitalistic economy, US-consumed ethanol would not be produced from corn. In fact, we wouldn't be drinking high fructose corn syrup in our soda. There would be no worry of interlocking directorates as corporate leaders would make perfectly rational decisions (and probably earn a whole lot less). We wouldn't have social security (as we know it now), publically supported museums, welfare, and a wide range of other assorted things.
Our economic system has both good and bad points. However, pointing to it, calling it "capitalist" and using that as a basis of argument is naive, to say the least.
